Former Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Pleads Guilty to Sexually Assaulting Female Inmates, Showing Them Pornographic Videos of Himself

Former Orange County Sheriff's Deputy Pleads Guilty to Sexually Assaulting Female Inmates, Showing Them Pornographic Videos of Himself

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A former Orange County Sheriff's Deputy has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two female inmates, including directing them to engage in sexual activity, while assigned to work at the Theo Lacy Facility in Orange. He was sentenced to 364 days credit time served and ordered to register as a sex offender.

Arcadio Rodriguez, 30, of Stanton, was charged in January 2023 with one misdemeanor count of sexual battery, one misdemeanor count of a detention facility employee engaging in sexual activity with a confined consenting adult, and one misdemeanor count of possession of a cell phone in a correctional facility.

Rodriguez has been on GPS monitoring since January 2025. In addition to the 364 days of custody time, Rodriguez was ordered to register as a sex offender for a minimum of 10 years and was placed on one-year formal probation.

The deputy established an inappropriate relationship with two female inmates incarcerated at the Theo Lacy Facility, which included touching them in intimate areas over their jail uniforms and showing them pornographic videos of himself while they were in their housing locations.

The assaults are believed to have begun in May 2022. Rodriguez was arrested after the Orange County Sheriff's Department launched an investigation after discovering communications regarding inappropriate sexual behavior between by a deputy toward a female inmate.

"Inmates are completely dependent on Sheriff's deputies and other jail staff for everything from food and medication to clothing. These women were awaiting trial and had no way of escaping a predator who literally held the keys to their captivity and ordered them to perform at his every whim," said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spizer. "To have a sworn deputy sheriff betray his oath of office to serve and protect by preying on vulnerable incarcerated individuals for his own sexual gratification is an embarrassment to the badge and to all the hardworking law enforcement professionals who carry out their duties lawfully each and every day."

Current California law only allows prosecutors to charge a misdemeanor when a detention facility employee engages in sexual activity with a confined adult over the clothes instead of skin to skin. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer has been aggressively seeking a change to state law to allow prosecutors to charge the behavior as a felony or a misdemeanor.

Senior Deputy District Attorney David McMurrin of Special Prosecutions prosecuted this case.

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